11 September

nine years...on the ninth anniversary of the reason i'm here, it's impossible to forget what day it is. my feelings are mixed when it comes to this subject. i think it's tragic how it took something like this to make america wake up to the threat of terrorism. the signs were there before, but most of us just went about oblivious to the whole thing. they weren't blowing things up in the continental united states so we were safe right? but then...it's amazing how one day changed everything.

we're not at the point many of our friends are. israel's been dealing with this sort of thing for millennia; whether they had their own country or not. i'm glad we're not at there, but sometimes i wonder if people would wake up more if we were.

so now we have soldiers running all over the world seeking out terrorists. while i'm glad we're giving them a distraction to keep them busy, i can't help but wonder if it's the right strategy in the long run. america won't be able to maintain things as they are for long. we've been living beyond our means for decades, and the bill collector's knocking on our door. the united states currently accounts for 51% of all the world's military spending. while we may have been able to afford that at one point, my line of work is now one of the many things dragging our government (and everyone else) further into the abyss. will we have made enough of a difference by the time we go home to make things safer? or will we have merely succeeded in galvanizing the ones that hate us?

the bureaucracy will never understand this though. rather than being our savior, the government is now an albatross around the country's neck. some of the most feared words in the english language are "we're from the government, and we're here to help". i know if anyone ever said that to me, i'd be scared.

there is still some hope left though. a few states are resurrecting the concept of nullification; or even succession. millions of citizens are awaking, and demanding their rights back.

will we be as safe with a smaller government? i think we can be. one thing is for certain though, we'll discover the answer to that question shortly. the government will be forced to shrink as the economic situation deteriorates. it's time to start preparing; big brother's days are numbered.